TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin American Connection

Has anyone had the experience of a 40 minute connection in Phily? We arrive on American from ORD into Phily. I'm a little nervous about the connection time but American says we will be fine!?!? We are in good health and can hoof it if need be BUT makes me nervous!

It would make me nervous, especially if you have to change terminals.

A 40 minute connection on the way to the Caribbean is doable but you have no "wiggle room". Any type of delay with your inbound flight and you'll never make the connection. Murphy's Law of Air Travel will come in to play here. It clearly states that the shorter your connecting the greater your chances are that your inbound flight will be delayed, your arrival gate will be blocked and you'll sit on the tarmac waiting for the gate to clear, you arrival and departure gates will be the furthest possible distance apart and/or the gate agent will be late and have difficulty lining up the jetway delaying the deplaning of passengers.
If you are nervous now, imagine how you feel the day you fly. See if you can rebook to flights with a longer connection time.

Do you really have any choice? I ask this because I only see one flight a day via PHL, and you are on it. You could fly via the earlier CLT flight, which still allows a later departure from CLT if the earlier flight gets delayed, but do you want to pay the change fees for that?

You might want to do some deep breathing exercises on the way. Good luck.

Is it too late to change this? I would never, ever trust AA with a 40 minute layover, and especially in Philadelphia. Do you have other options? You will likely have to change terminals, and the shuttle service at that airport is questionable at best. Not to mention that a flight to SXM from Philadelphia will start boarding roughly 30 minutes prior to departure time. By the time your first flight lands, everybody ahead of you on the plane retrieves their belongings from the overhead bins, you get off the plane and check the board for your next departure gate ... you see my point. Would you trust a 40 minute layover at ORD of you had to go from Terminal A to Terminal F? Not to mention that your luggage likely won't make it until the following day. Do yourself a big favor and try to get this switched. I recommend a 1-1/2 hour or longer layover, especially at PHL. Good luck.

One year on USAir I chose the later connecting flight because of short time. We landed at airport in time that we could have made that earlier flight however, the later flight I'd booked was delayed over an hour. So as Cruser states: Murphy's Law always comes into play whatever you do.

I'd go for it if I thought we'd get another flight the same day should we miss the connection.

Yes-thank you everyone. I am going to call and see what the options are,

I will be interested to hear what happens, but I can almost guarantee that they will charge you a change fee, which is pretty significant, like $100 a ticket.

I have done a 50 minute connection in Miami with American and made it to my gate as boarding was starting. 40 minutes is doable if flight is on time and you can go from gate to gate in 20 minutes or less.

Other issue is whether your luggage (if you have checked luggage) makes it.

I think change fees now start at $200 and go up from there on AA.

I really, really detest AA connections through PHL. I have been burned there on multiple in-country trips. That being said, my last three (forced - no viable alternate) connections through PHL have worked out unexpectedly well, and I may be forced to reconsider my objections to PHL. Depending on the gates and any personal mobility issues, I don't see a big problem with a 40-minute connection. I recently did a short connection between B and C gates, and it wasn't a problem. A and F gates, that may be a very different experience. Do some flight tracking on the aa.com website, or a site such as flightaware.com and see if you can get an idea where your flights typically arrive/depart from.

As to baggage, AA has improved their app by incorporating the old USAir bag tracking capabilities into the app. You can see from the app whether or not your bags have actually been loaded onto your aircraft. By that time it's already too late, so I always have at least one day of clothes and other necessities in my carry-on. Beyond one day, I've got plastic...

Was thinking the same thing about your luggage. Will it make it. Also, where on the plane are you sitting for the first leg of your journey. If you are at the back of the first plane, you will lose 5 to 10 minutes when you arrive at your first stop. Good luck!

Bahston--Regardless of whether we are connecting or not, we ALWAYS take at least one change of clothes and a bathing suit in our carry on. Stuff happens, even without a connection.

By coincidence, I am at gate A 10 at Philly right now! Took bus to A.
Depart in one hour for sxm !
No complaints here ! Will arrive around 1:30 in sxm.
See you soon !
Don

Enjoy your trip, Don!!!

Thank you Carol !
Don

Trip report???

Don't push it, Carol.

Hey, I can always ask!!

Your wish is my command !
Going to eat / drink at Gizmo’s at Divi, then take a snooze !
Long day already !
Have rental car 🚘 will drive
Have checked into Casita for a long nap !
Don

Enjoy!

For what it is worth, AA recently changed my flight through PHL to a 50 minute connection with a terminal change. I called, asked for a supervisor and they could not have been easier to work with. I explained this was the one and only flight out of PHL and the customer service agent re-routed me through Charlotte with 1 1/2 hour connection time and no change fees. This is my first time flying with AA and the customer service was great.

Thanks for posting.

I wonder what happened with the original poster?

Smart move. CLT is a much better airport in my opinion, and a 90 minute layover should ensure that your luggage makes it along with you. Does your return flight have the same layover time wise? That may take a bit longer because you'll be going through customs & immigration.

Our return is nearly 3 hours. We pack light and won't be checking luggage. Clothes should fit in one carry on and once we get it through security, all liquids will be combined to one bag and clothes in the other. What we forget, we have a credit card.

Well here is an update. I called AA and was told there would be a change fee...actually called multiple times to see if a new supervisor would take pity on us. NOPE...so we will not be checking a bag and I paid a little extra to get seats in the 5th row once we arrive to Phili. to get off the plane fast. In tracking some of the other flights -it seems doable if there isn't a delay! Guess we will roll the dice and find out. We leave the end of July, I'll report back. Thanks for the responses.

Oh and our return connections are fine timewise..

Thanks for the update, vrboone. Best wishes!

Good luck, vrboone. Here are a few other tips that you probably already know, but just in case. Make sure you're carry-on bag(s) fits in the overhead bins. Don't let them 'gate-check' it for you. That takes additional time. Also, see if you can find out in advance what terminal and gate you are landing at from Chicago, and which ones are you departing from for St. Maarten. If the terminals are the same or right next to one another that would be a big advantage. Don't quote me on this, but I believe AA uses Concourse D for their international flights. So, if your flight from Chicago gets off in Concourse B or C you can walk quickly over to Concourse D. Hope it all goes well for you!

I've done PHL, CLT and MIA. I plan to do PHL at the end of June.. I have had a tight connection in PHL and they knew I had a tight connection. I think the doors closed shortly after me boarding.
I would of assumed ORD (time zone change) you'd rather do the CLT flight since it is a little later.

How tight is your connection in PHL? We originally had a 1:50 layover and they changed our flight and now have 1:11. Wondering if we should be concerned.

Maybe a little concerned, but you should be okay as long as you're not going from totally opposite ends of the Philly airport. When are you traveling? I'd keep a sharp eye on this because AA could adjust times again without notifying you directly. I would also suggest pulling up a map of the Philadelphia airport online to familiarize yourself with the airport layout. It's easy to do, and that way you'll have a better understanding of the airport once you land.

Thanks for your help. Will pull up the map. Is there a way of finding out ahead of time which concourse/gate we will be arriving at and departing from? Will be arriving from PIT. We are going in July. When I pull up my trip on their site it states the new schedule. However, my app still states the old schedule. Go figure.

I would start to check a day or two before you go. The online schedule may show the exact gate number, and from there you can determine the concourse. Arriving from Pittsburgh you should be okay; smaller airports often see AA flights arrive at the concourse furthest away from international flights. I always try to expect the unexpected, especially when dealing with the Philadelphia airport.